Dominant Fungal Communities Aggregate in the Shallow Rhizosphere Soil of Anabasis aphylla

Abstract

Rhizosphere soil microorganisms are significant factors affecting plant growth, especially that of saline–alkali tolerant plants in the desert ecosystem. We performed high-throughput sequencing in order to identifying the fungal community structures and their relationships to the physicochemical properties of different soil layers for the desert plant, Anabasis aphylla, in its natural environment. The number of unique operational taxonomic units (OTUs) found in the bulk soil of the 0–20 cm layer contributed to the biggest percentage (24.13%) of the overall amount of unique OTUs. Despite the fact that there was a rather large variety of fungi in the bulk soil of A. aphylla, the number of dominating fungi, which included Ascomycota, Microascus, and Arachnomyces, was found to be in quite high abundance in the rhizosphere soil. In the 20–40 cm layer of rhizosphere soil, the phylum Ascomycota accounted for 84.78% of the total phyla identified, whereas the species Microascus and Arachnomyces accounted for 24.72% and 37.18%, respectively, of the total species identified. In terms of the soil physicochemical properties, electric conductivity was the primary environmental component influencing the dominant fungi. The findings of this research enhance our comprehension of dominant fungi distributions and relevant environmental factors affecting the saline–alkali tolerant desert plant, A. aphylla. The results also provide a theoretical basis to help elucidate fungi adaptation mechanisms to the saline–alkali environment and methods for their isolation and screening.